Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1927, William Wick came to Oregon State College to study fish and game management and received both B.S. and M.S. degrees in 1950 and 1952, respectively. First employed by OSU in 1960 as an Extension Service Agent for Tillamook County, Wick left seven years later to work at the OSU Marine Science Center in Newport. In 1968, Wick assumed the post of Program Leader of the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program and a year later became coordinator of the regional Pacific Sea Grant Advisory Program. For his efforts in the Marine Advisory Programs, Wick received the U.S. Department of Agriculture Superior Award in 1971. In 1973, Wick became Director of the OSU Sea Grant Program. Wick retired as Sea Grant Director on December 31, 1990.
A longtime Corvallis resident raised on a local poultry farm, Beth Russell graduated from Oregon State College in 1937 with an undergraduate degree in Home Economics. After college, Beth worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad and became active in local service organizations.
Merlin S. Eltzroth was born in Philadelphia in 1922, grew up in Ohio, and graduated from Ohio University in 1947. He married Elsie K. Eltzroth in June 1943. Eltzroth moved to Corvallis in 1971 and earned a BS degree in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University in 1974. He specialized in non-game bird biology and was a volunteer in wild bird rehabilitation and protection. In 1985, he was instrumental in the passage of Oregon laws to protect all native non-game bird species and received honors from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for his work. In 2005, he received the first Homer Campbell Award for conservation and the environment from the Audubon Society of Corvallis. Eltzroth retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1971 after serving in both World War II and the Vietnam War. Eltzroth died in Corvallis on October 7, 2005.